A wildfire burns as an empty street in Jasper, Alta. is shown in this Wednesday, July 24, 2024 handout photo from the Jasper National Park Facebook page. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Facebook, Jasper National Park *MANDATORY CREDIT*
JASPER, ALTA. – Calgary emergency officials say they’re sending crews to help the Jasper wildfire while explaining why they briefly shuttered their evacuation centre just as the fire roared into the townsite and started burning structures.
Sue Henry, the head of Calgary’s emergency services, says 19 Calgary crews have headed north to the fire scene.
Calgary is one of two evacuation centres set up to handle those fleeing the fires in Jasper National Park, with the other in Grande Prairie.
Henry says the decision was made Wednesday night to close the evacuation centre at 5 p.m., noting there no evacuees had come in the night prior.
She said it was closed for about 20 minutes.
She said when more evacuees began arriving, they immediately pivoted and reopened the centre and processed 85 people overnight.
The centre provides services such as finding hotel rooms for those displaced.
“The gap in services was very, very short,” Henry told reporters at a news briefing Thursday morning.
“It’s very, very difficult to predict when people were going to be around.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 25, 2024.
